Avalanche Study Will Bury Pigs in Snow to Watch Them Die

I found this article on treehugger.com and I hope everybody reads it!! Still scientists want to test on animals, why? Even our smartest of smart people still cannot distinguish the difference between right and wrong or human and animal!! This goes to show no matter how much education someone may have they are still just as ignorant as the peasants they joke about at their cocktail parties!

Animal rights activists are up in arms about a proposed experiment which would try to better understand what factors may help people survive an avalanche–by burying pigs in snow to monitor their slow deaths. While researchers defend their study, asserting that it could help save lives, those in opposition say that the deaths would be nothing short of cruel and senseless.

The study hopes that by monitoring the buried pigs, researchers will have a better understanding the role of air pockets in surviving avalanche situations and avoiding brain damage from asphyxiation. Like in a drowning, many avalanche victims die from a lack of oxygen while waiting on rescue that is notoriously difficult.

Researchers have defended the study by claiming that the 29 pigs selected to participate would not suffer, and that they would be sedated prior to being covered in snow. Still, animal rights groups are crying foul, likening the planned deaths as animal cruelty.

The experiment, lead by Hermann Brugger and a team from Austria and Italy, was set to take place over the course of two weeks, but has been postponed due to the recent negative response from media and activists, according to Medical University of Innsbruck.

There’s no telling how long the pigs’ reprieve from their snowy execution will last, though Brugger is quick to point out that their days would be numbered anyways. In other words, if the avalanche won’t kill them, the slaughterhouse will.